Knowing Pain
by Vulcanos
Summary: Pain is being haunted by his torn past,despite his best efforts. His childhood friend Konan seeks to help him. But it might already be too late for the orange-haired orphan.Rated T for language, depressive/suicide themes, and tragedy.
1. Chapter 1: Stop the Pain

Pain's eyes watered again, unable to wipe the past memory from his mind that refused to recede. The razor blade dropped to the ground, clean. No, he would not resort to the tactics of the weak. Not yet. Still, the blood and his namesake tugged at him like a persistent toddler,refusing to let go until it got what it wanted. His tortured scream threatened to wake the entire forest, but he was able to hold it in. This time. He had to get himself together. He muttered to himself,

"I still have a team to lead." A hand touched his shoulder, gently. Pain shouted in surprise, then glared at the lone Akatsuki female who stood several steps back, knowing he could be violent at the drop of a hat.

"What are you doing out here, Konan?" She noticed the discarded the blade on the ground.

" I could ask you the same thing, Pain." He sighed, knowing that a lecture from his old friend was imminent. But it didn't happen. Instead, she merely drew him into a caring embrace. When he pushed her away, she whispered to him, " I've helped you with this before. Why won't you let me now?"

"I must deal with my past on my own. There's nothing there to concern you." Konan angrily cut him off.

"Bullshit! I know you, Mr. High and Mighty and Mr. Poor Me but Leave Me Alone. I hope you haven't forgotten that all of this happened to me too!" Tears brimmed in her eyes, and Pain was intensely studying the ground. Before Pain could apologize, Konan was gone in a flutter of paper.

"I don't want to play God anymore..."

 **A/N: This one will go awhile! I'll keep the chapters coming, and stick around for the first part of the final battle between The Angelic Winchesters and The Zombie Combo, coming very soon!**


	2. Chapter 2: The Canyon

The next day, after he had sent the group on their missions, he decided to go on one of his own. The leader of the Akatsuki wandered the canyon several hours later, unsettlingly serene. Unsettling if you weren't Pain. A rustle of movement in the scrub on an outcropping high to his right. Likely a scout ninja. He opted to ignore him, trying instead to focus on his self-conversation. The scout, however, was having none of it. The kunai was high and behind him. He sighed, and rushed up to deal with the idiot. Instead, he found Konan, crouched in the shrub.

"Why are you out in this canyon by yourself?" she asked.

"I should ask you the same, Konan. I sent you out, and not to here." His glare not fazing the bluenette girl who had withstood the Rinnegan's gaze so many times. She spoke again.

"At least you aren't trying to do something stupid, like last-" Pain released Almighty Push, smacking her into the rock wall and then quickly leaving before Konan had gotten a chance to recover and follow.

"I need to talk with Tobi, Pain is losing control. He's..." she winced in pain, still stinging from the impact against "Never lashed at me like that before..." She picked herself up, and started back to the hideout. God was losing himself, and it was up to her, the version of Mary in this story, to get him back on track, or tear him down completely. That, she hadn't decided yet.


	3. Chapter 3: Peace To All

After the incident in the canyon, Pain had vanished for several days, forcing their hidden leader into one of three options; let the Akatsuki fall apart, reveal himself, or name Konan temporary figurehead leader until Pain could be found. When Konan came to him with her concern and details of the canyon incidemt, his choice was clear.

The bluenette female stood where Pain usually did, addressing the rest of the group with their missions.

"I understand this is strange, but Pain left an order that I should lead the Akatsuki if he died or went missing. We are going to find him, and our plans will proceed as scheduled. You all have your assignments. Dismissed." The criminal nin group did as they had been told, not without grumbling. "Madara" stayed back a minute to speak with Konan, Zetsu likely waiting outside for him.

"How do you plan to find him, Konan? He told no one where he was going, or what he was doing." She replied quick, despite the obvious but still baffling question.

"That is what you and Zetsu have been tasked with. Figure out where he went, find him, and bring him back so we can continue onward in our plan." He left without a word to go on their mission to find the two-time missing nin.

Konan sat alone at the hideout, pacing back and forth. She knew she couldn't leave the hideout unguarded, lest some bumbling scout happen across it. Yet she had an intense longing to go, to search for her friend, the only one she still had. Night came, then went, then came again before anyone came back. Sasori and Deidara had completed their mission, as had Kisame and Itachi. Both reported successes, yet this didn't please her at all.

Zetsu and Tobi had been hunting the elusive Pain for days until they found a trace of his whereabouts. A bloodstained kunai stuck in the ground, pointing east. They followed this direction for several hours, spanning miles until they found him. He was not wearing his Akatsuki garb, however. Its remains lay in a heap in a burnt out campfire. He instead had reverted to the wear of the Akatsuki before this one, dangling his legs over the edge of a huge waterfall and laying on his back, gazing longingly at the stars.

"Stay right there, both of you. I'm assuming Konan has been named leader in my place, and business goes on, doesn't it?" Tobi dared another step, respecting the tormented orange-haired Akatsuki that lay there.

"Not quite, Pain. We came to find you, so we could continue with our plans. We need you, Pain." He sat up with a depressive sigh.

"I have no interest in your plan anymore. I realize now that the only way I can make peace with myself... is to make peace with the world." And without a sound, Pain flung himself into the abyss. Not a cry of anguish, but one short phrase was heard before he plummeted out of sight forever:

"Peace... to all..."

 **FIN**


End file.
